"Welp, that's that."

Such were the words Salem heard beside him—courtesy of Yzel—while witnessing the commotion outside through one of the side windows of the police car.

It all went wrong so fast. He shouldn't be surprised at this really, he's been expecting such an outcome practically since the start of this entire conundrum. That didn't make it sting any less though. Handcuffed and weak, he could do nothing but lie down here and watch. Hoping and praying that Jade somehow managed to slip away safely.

How helpless of him. How infuriating to be in this useless state, incapable of any real change.

"We had a good run tonight, but… ah well. Not everything goes perfectly, I guess," Yzel continued. He seemed to take it much better, judging by how comfortable he was getting in his seat. His laid-back expression hid whatever nervousness Salem was sure he was feeling currently. Or perhaps he didn't feel nervous at all, who was he to tell?

Salem turned from the world outside to stare at his own two feet. If he paid any more attention to the numerous Grizzco workers running about, he would've begun to sweat. He twiddled his thumbs, he hunched over in his seat, he racked his brain for a possible way to get out of this vehicle.

The handcuffs barred him from trying anything too fancy, and the driver in front meant he had to be discreet. Perhaps if he had a key for either the cuffs or the door, he could break himself free, but the only one he could spot was poking out the pocket of the driver. Perhaps if he strangled him with the chain of his cuffs until he passed out, he'd be able to obtain it, but then what if he wasn't strong enough for that? What if the cop fought back successfully and—

"Wanna play a game?"

"Wh-huh?" His orange eyes darted left, to where Yzel was bearing down on him with a bored pout. Salem did not respond.

"Rock-paper-scissors, you and me. Just a few rounds," Yzel elaborated.

Salem deadpanned. "Why—… You're seriously asking that now."

"Yeah!"

"Yzel… read the room," Salem said as he cast his gaze back at the floor.

"Aw, don't be like that! No need to be so gloomy, y'know?"

"I don't have time for distractions, especially when my friend's life could be in danger."

"Now she's a friend, eh?" Yzel teased with a raised brow.

"Don't start!" Salem hissed. The tanned inkling merely raised his cuffed arms in mock-surrender.

"Quiet down, you two!" The police officer on the front seat chided without so much as turning his head. The inkling youths ceased their chatter after that. Now wouldn't be a good time to poke the anglerfish after all.

After several beats of silence, Salem noticed a pair of hands enter his field of view, and he looked back to see Yzel with an encouraging expression.

"Fine," Salem sighed with a roll of his eyes. He had nothing better to do, anyways.

The game began in earnest, with the two boys going through the usual motions of rock-paper-scissors, swinging their fists rhythmically before throwing their 'tools'. Yzel had scissors while Salem had paper.

"I win!" Yzel cheered with a short laugh, while Salem could only groan. A loud shush coming from the driver caused them to fall silent again. Before he could scold them again, however, his walkie talkie buzzed. The cop pressed his ear into it for a few seconds before lowering it, then sent a glare at the youths.

"Don't make any noise, alright? I'll come back to you once this situation's been sorted out," The cop barked before getting out of the car. The two inklings were left alone in the vehicle.

Salem was about to turn away when he was stopped by the tanned inkling once again. "A few rounds, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," Salem grumbled. Might as well keep his mind occupied by entertaining his companion.

They played another round, with Salem drawing rock and Yzel drawing paper. The one after that had Salem whip out rock again and Yzel drawing scissors. "About time," Salem grumbled even as a small smile formed on his face, and Yzel didn't look too displeased either.

The teens continued to play more rounds after that, one after the other with hardly any breaks. They happened so quickly and repeatedly that they began to blur together, and the inklings lost count of how many they did. They even forgot to tally their wins and losses. Strangely enough, this did not bother Salem one bit. For a moment, he even forgot about the pandemonium outside…

"This is kind of fun, actually.."

"I know, right? Helps whenever I wanna take my mind off something and unwind," Yzel chimed in.

"Yeah.. it's not helping here," Salem countered with a defeated sigh. He turned to the window near his seat once more. There were still scores of policemen and Grizzco workers littering the street, and more than a few passerby still hanging around. "Just because I'm ignoring them doesn't mean they're gonna vanish."

"Staring at 'em isn't gonna make them turn to stone, either."

"It's just… aren't you worried? Jade's out there all alone and cornered against dozens of dastards that want her either dead or on a dissecting table, while we're stuck here in cuffs, waiting to be interrogated before being thrown in a cell. Nothing's working out."

"Never said I wasn't."

That gave Salem pause. He turned toward his companion again and was confused to find him slumped in his seat, staring idly at the car mat. As if his cheery mood from earlier had vanished in an instant.

Salem did wish for him to get serious, but not quite like this.

"This ain't the first time I've been in a police car. Actually, I think that makes this the… 4th time? 5th?" Yzel recalled before shaking his head. "I forget."

Salem merely stared at him as if he grew a second head, even scooted away in his seat. The tanned inkling raised his cuffed hands up in defense.

"I-I know how that sounds, alright? I'm not that kind of person anymore and I have no reason to mug you or whatever you're assuming— Point is, I get it. I know how you feel regarding all this craziness."

"Do you, now?" Salem snarked

"Don't try to act tough, not when you're almost pissing your pants," Yzel fired back. "It's not like it's gonna hide how nervous you feel. That hole of fear and shame welling up in your gut due to the fact that you messed up, and now you have no idea how things are gonna go from here. Every time I was caught red-handed, the feeling was there."

"So what if I'm nervous? At least I care about what's going on, unlike you."

Yzel could only chuckle as he shook his head. "All that worry over what comes next isn't gonna change a thing, man. Jade's still out there fighting Grizzco whether you like it or not, and you're still here under arrest despite not wanting to. And if we searched our hardest for a way out and just couldn't find any…. Then we couldn't find any."

Yzel shrugged his shoulders, "At that point, why beat yourself up over something you can't do anything about?"

Forget what he said about Yzel being serious, he hadn't changed at all. This was little more than stupidity spewing out of a guy's lips with no rhyme or reason.

"So what, I should accept what happens and let everything roll all over me?" Salem challenged, glaring daggers onto Yzel. "And here I thought you actually wanted to help out. You just wanted a thrill..."

"Look, it's great that you're focused on this, but I don't think letting it bog you down is a good idea. It might get harder for you to think straight if you're stuck in that hole all the time— I know it got hard for me whenever I was about to be thrown into a cell," Yzel cautioned. "But every time I stared at those bars and wondered what would come next.. I had a feeling that if I stayed put and kept going, things would sort themselves out. And they did."

"And you just knew they would?" Salem asked with a raised brow.

"Just saying, without a little bit of faith it'll be impossible to find that solution you want. The light at the end of the tunnel, if you will."

"Faith," Salem repeated with a roll of his eyes. The word tasted bitter in his mouth. "You mean 'wishful thinking'."

"Call it what you want, it's preeeetty nifty from time to time," Yzel defended.

"Yes, well, trusting my feelings or using my imagination does me no favors. Like you said, we're still here even if I hoped we weren't. Thinking positive isn't gonna make our problems go away."

Yzel glanced away. "No… but it'll help you face them head on."

It was a nice sentiment, really, and Salem knew Yzel was just trying to help. That didn't mean it sat well with him, nothing so vapid ever did. "Right… But if I'm gonna do that, I'll need someone who can focus on actively trying to fix our problem. Shouldn't be too hard for you, right?"

"As long as you stop sulking, sure!" Yzel affirmed

At least it helped Salem feel more at ease. Perhaps they could make this night go a little less horribly, after all…

SLAM!

The inklings jumped at the noise, startled out of their minds. Yzel scooted close to his window and pressed his face against its glass surface. Yet try as he might, he didn't seem to get a good look at what just slammed against the car.

"What is it?!" Salem asked

"I-I dunno, I can't make out the shape," Yzel stammered. "What about you?"

Salem scooted over and leaned as far as he could. He didn't know what Yzel expected, but if his companion couldn't see anything despite being closer, then how was he supposed to fare any better?

Salem shook his head. "Nothing. Let me try from another spot."

He lurched forward and tried to crawl onto the driver's seat, though a slip of his hand caused Salem to fall over in a heap. It took longer than he would've liked, but he managed to right himself in the seat. He peered through the window in whatever direction he could, until he found something below propped right next to the door.

He nearly gasped at the sight: It was the cop from before, who left the vehicle some minutes ago and now lay on their side as a crumpled heap on the ground. His eyes were closed, so Salem could not tell if he was unconscious or outright dead.

"Our babysitter's been knocked out," He told Yzel.

"Wait, that's him? How did it happen?"

"Shell if I know. Wish it happened before we were put in cuffs, but…"

He glanced down at the cop again. He did not appear to have many items on him, at least not at first glance. Yet upon straining his eyes, he found something shiny peeking through one of their pockets. Glinting metal, rather.

They still had their keys.

He asked Yzel to pass him whatever blunt item he could scrounge up, and he in turn gave Salem a random baton lying about. Neither had any idea as to how the cop could've forgotten something so essential.

Holding it in two hands, Salem swung it repeatedly against the driver's window, hitting it over and over again until the glass shattered at last. He then bent over the window and tried to reach for the pocket. His fingers brushed the fabric a few times until he finally grasped the item, pulled it out, and then with a heave he leaned back and away from the door.

Unclenching his fingers allowed Salem to get a better look at his catch: there were various designs hooked to the silver ring, and among them was a key for handcuffs. Just what he needed.

Now all he had to do was unlock his and Yzel's cuffs, and they would both be out of here. Maybe then he could find out where Jade had gone to…

"Hey, you seeing this?" Yzel asked out of the blue, startling Salem right as he was about to use the key on his cuffs. The tan inkling seemed to be staring out the window again.

"A little busy here, what is it?" Salem inquired while he attempted to open up his cuffs.

"Someone's throwing the Grizzco guys around like they're made of foam," Yzel described. He leaned as close as he could and squinted his eyes. "They kind of look like… is that Jade?"

"What?!"

The moment he finished unlocking his own cuffs and taking them off, Salem turned his attention to the streets outside. Several sealings clad in salmon run gear appeared to be firing wildly at some.. shape moving all over the place, weaving in and out of their little group before they were either struck down, flung away or slammed onto the ground one by one. He could not make out any details save for a cloaked outline, but the postures, the movements, the tail peeking out from behind the figure were all similar…

"Didn't she, uh.. launch away on that trampoline they had?" Yzel wondered aloud.

"She did!" Salem scowled.

"How did she even get back here so fast..?"

"Why is she wasting time with the fodder?!"

It made him furious. That could only be her, yet she had evidently escaped from here. Khal's stunt with the trampoline made that clear. Jade would've had to superjump back to cross the distance that she did in mere minutes, and Jade never showed to be capable of such a skill while in her salmon form, so it could not possibly be her. But if it wasn't her, if that was someone else who somehow managed to replicate her abilities, then…

"I swear to cod, if she bit someone and turned them into a Were-fish, I'm gonna strangle her," Salem seethed.

"Are you sure it's someone else? I mean, what if she's trying to rescue us?"

"Whoever it is, we need to get them out of here, maybe stop them from biting someone else's head off. C'mon."

"No rest for the wicked," Yzel remarked as he held his hands out and sent a knowing glance at the keys. Salem quickly got to work unlocking the cuffs, and after opening their respective doors, the pair of inklings sneaked away from the police car.

They laid low while traversing the battered street, crouch-walking from one cover to the next. The pitter patter of footsteps echoed from all directions while bursts of indistinct chatter buzzed about in the night sky; no doubt from the various policemen and Grizzco employees scrambling to regain control of their current situation.

Whenever they heard someone approach, the inklings quickly huddled behind whatever cover they could find and dropped to the floor. They would lay as still as stone for however long a random mook would hover close to them, and only when they were certain they left would the two boys think about getting up again and continuing their sneaking about.

They eventually reached the other side and stopped behind the rear left wheel of a Grizzco truck. Salem took a moment to rest and listen in more closely on the workers' chatter.

"The hostile's location is still unknown. Commencing search now..."

"Where did that thing go? I swear it was here just a second ago…"

"No.. no sir, we have no visual on this hostile. We could only identify salmonid ink on the last spot they struck, any traces of it around the area are being cleaned up as we speak... "

"I'm telling you, cap'n said she had the target secured on that rooftop 3 blocks away. There's no way it could've escaped and come back here…"

So they were just as clueless on the details as he was. He could still get an edge over them.

"So, uh.. how are we actually gonna go about this?" Yzel whispered as he briefly peeked out the back of the truck. "I don't think you mentioned the step-by-step of it all."

"This guy could be hiding anywhere for all we know. We can't just look through every nook and cranny of this street one at a time, Grizzco's already trying that and they've had no luck. It'd be impossible for just the two of us."

"That's just if we do it blind, yeah? We could follow the salmonid ink spots, see where the trail leads."

"That just tells us where it's been, not where they are right now. And Grizzco is just gonna paint over the puddles they find before we get to them."

"So we do the opposite then? Let it come to us?"

"More like we offer ourselves as bait. And if we want to make for enticing prey, then…" Salem trailed off, his inquisitive gaze moving onto one of the random Grizzco employees patrolling about in full salmon run gear.

Yzel scratched his chin as he spoke. "And we wouldn't have to worry about Grizzco bearing down on us if we looked like one of their guys. Neat idea, but… how do we make sure it goes after us and not some other worker?"

"That.. I still need to figure out. We don't know what caused them to come out earlier and…"

Salem shook his head. "Let's keep watch for now, and if anything happens we let each other know, alright?"

Yzel nodded. "Well if I do find it, I'll give you the signal to bail out of here—"

"Who's there?!"

The inkboys went quiet at that. Neither dared to move a finger as they heard footsteps approach. From a few quick glances, they found it to be an inkling and he was creeping closer and closer to their position…

The moment he walked around the truck and came into full view, the boys sprung into action. While Yzel tackled him onto the ground, Salem quickly rushed behind him and forcefully covered his mouth and nose. The inkling struggled for a good minute even with the two boys forcing him down, until at last his movements slowed and he fell unconscious.

Together, they dragged the worker's body further behind the truck and out of view so as to not give their location away. They splatted him and picked up his scattered clothes before taking a breather.

"That was close," Yzel huffed. "At least we got our disguise…"

He gagged upon leaning close to the orange overall in his hands, and Salem had to turn away from the shirt he held as well. "When was the last time this guy took a bath?! He smells awful!"

Salem coughed a few times while trying to wave the stench away. "Dunno how anyone can go around smelling like that and think no one's gonna.. notice..."

His eyes widened. Anyone with a decent nose would be able to notice such a strong smell. Especially one who uses such smells to locate their prey.

A salmonid would surely be alerted to it from far away. Perhaps even feel curious enough to investigate.

"Wait, that's it!" Salem whisper-exclaimed, turning toward Yzel again. "We'll use this stench to alert the creature of our presence and lure them right towards us!"

"But.. wouldn't they have targeted this guy already..?"

Before Salem could get an answer in, a pained scream cut through the air. The boys peeked around the car to see what the commotion was, and found a lifering stained with murky green ink being flung from behind a car until it clattered on the pavement. Two Grizzco workers quickly ran behind the vehicle, yet they didn't seem to find anything there. The other nearby workers and cops chattered amongst themselves before spreading out. There was no sign of the mysterious figure anywhere.

"It's obvious our 'friend' doesn't wanna risk coming out on their own," Salem explained as he crouched down again. "They think they can play defensive and not fall for Grizzco's tricks. That they've got enough self-control to ignore whatever enters their nose.. but they can't ignore instinct forever."

"Yeah, I'd be hard-pressed to ignore something like that if it were right in my face," Yzel deadpanned.

"Exactly. So put this on, go out there and show off all the stinkiness you can muster," Salem commanded, shoving the rest of the clothes onto Yzel's chest.

The tanned inkling stared down at them, baffled. "It sounds weird when you put it like that…"

"Just get on with it," Salem snapped as he took whatever mounds of mud and dirt he could scrape off the ground and shoved them onto his face. He figured he could contribute by making a stink of his own. "We lure it, we find it, we incapacitate it, and then we bail. Got it?"

Yzel swallowed and nodded. Slowly and hesitantly, he put on the outfit piece by piece. Once he finished with the cap, he took the discarded weapon and walked out of his hiding spot to meet up with the rest of his 'buddies'. Salem, too, quietly slithered away from the spot and moved to another part of the damaged street.

[He found his next hiding spot in the form of a trash can, and quickly shifted into a squid to slither behind it. Again he lay still, listening to the wayward noises of the hunters. Though he found nothing of use this time, Salem wasn't going to remain here until he did. After peeking around the can to ensure no one was watching, he slipped out as quietly as he could and skulked over somewhere else.

Meanwhile, Yzel had joined up with some of his 'squadmates' and searched around the steps to Evertide Mall for any sign of their scaly friend. He'd already figured they weren't there after seeing a small puddle behind one of the entrance's pillars, but didn't notify the others right away. Instead he shouted at them that he 'spotted' the beast before slipping out of their sight. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself after seeing them argue amongst each other over their lack of progress.

A hurried shout caught his attention, and he trudged over to see what the commotion was. Soon he came across a small gathering of policemen and Grizzco workers alike under a lamp post, 5 members to be exact. Among them stood out an inkling man with dark skin, short green tentacles and a moustache clad in police man seemed to be informing the other four of something before quickly shooing them off.

As they dispersed, Yzel was on his way to move somewhere else before that same voice called out to him. "Hey, you! Come here for a minute!"

The youth cursed under his breath before reluctantly approaching the inkling. He wasn't that much taller than Yzel, only an inch or two, so he didn't need to look up too much when facing him.

"Have you found the creature yet?" The man asked.

"Nah, not yet. That thing's been a.. real piece of work this evening, lemme tell ya," Yzel responded as naturally as he could.

"I don't understand.. Grizzco are experts at dealing with salmonids, they should've been able to track it by now."

"Well this isn't our run-of-the-mill salmonid, is it?" Yzel asked in a joking manner. "What's got you so concerned anyways?"

The man looked at Yzel with bafflement. The youth realized that those words might've struck a nerve on the man, and was ready to turn away when he regained his bearings and spoke. "It's just… I can't find my wife for some reason. She was with me just a few minutes ago and I don't know what happened…"

Yzel pursed his lips. "Maybe she got scared and ran off?"

"She would've notified me if she did. It's as if she vanished without a sound…"

"And you're worried she got attacked by that thing."

"Or worse," The man affirmed and sighed. "I already asked some other guys to search the place, but.."

"No, I get it," Yzel waved off. "Gotta make sure and all that."

"Look, if you see or hear anything about my wife, please let me know," The older inkling pleaded. "I have to make sure she's safe."

To hear such a sincere, burdened plea from someone he just met caught Yzel off-guard. He remained silent for moments that stretched on a bit too long, before he faced the man again. "Alright then. What's she look like?"

"She's an inkling like me. Blue tentacles, light skin, purple eyes. She wears a yellow dress too," The man described.

Yzel nodded and began to jog away. "I'll be on the lookout, sir!"

"Willburr!" The man yelled back, leaving Yzel confused. "That's my name, if you forget who to call!"

Taking note of that tidbit of information, Yzel gave one last nod before leaving the man.

As he walked around the street and passed over many a hunter, Yzel caught something from the corner of his eye. He couldn't make out any details, but he could definitely see something moving in the darkness. A humanoid shape… and it looked to be crawling closer and closer to Salem, who was currently hiding behind the rear of a police car.

"Aw carp," Yzel muttered. He had to act soon.

Salem was about to round the corner when the sound of a snapped twig slammed against his ears suddenly. It was brief yet loud enough to alert several enemies. Including the three right in front of him.

Their eyes were on him now, hard and wide and poised to strike. If his hearts were racing before, now they were going on overdrive as he feebly stared back at the opposition.

"What are you doing here?! This is a restricted area!" One of them called out as the other two aimed their weapons. He stammered a lie, he stumbled back, tried anything that could net him an outcome devoid of combat. Though Salem wasn't surprised to see they were having none of it as they stalked closer to him.

One of them forcefully grasped onto his shoulder, and Salem in turn threw a haymaker. Like snakes, the other two latched onto him and restrained his arms with ease. Even with all his twisting and turning, he couldn't wrench himself free from those hands. The workers now slammed him against the car and held him down.

Until suddenly, something swooped in from above. The shadow slammed against the hunters, knocking them onto the was enough for Salem to break free, though he tripped as a result. It only took a single slash across their backs for the workers to be knocked unconscious.

With weak limbs, Salem jerkily propped himself up and leaned against the car. He stared up at the kneeling cloaked figure, and was met with a curious gaze.

Orange fin-hair. A short, scaled snout. Pale skin. The tail of a fish. Yellow eyes with.. purple pupils?

Even if their other features were hidden in shadow and underneath the cloak they wore, there was no mistaking what it was that stood before him. Rising to their full height, the salmonling loomed over the inkling boy, observing him. Gauging him, no doubt.

He put his hands up and backed off, in the hopes of getting his message across. The salmonling made no moves to attack, at least, but they didn't seem all too willing to listen either. Understandably so, he supposed.

"Listen, I don't know who you are or if you can even understand me, but—"

"Why have you come?" It— she— asked, in perfect inklish and with a similar rasp as Jade's.

The fact she even uttered those words took Salem by surprise, as his eyes widened and his mouth hung agape for a moment. So she was in control of herself all along, like he predicted. But that still answered nothing regarding her identity, or even the reason for her presence here.

"Why have I— I should be asking you that!" Salem hissed back. "You're in more danger here than I am, we need to get out now!"

Yet before she could get another word in, the pair were suddenly hit by a flash of light. They had to shield their eyes for a few seconds, but once it subsided they were staring down dozens of Grizzco soldiers and policemen, all aiming blasters and chargers and other weapons at them.

"Put your hands in the air now!" One of the cops, the dark-skinned inkling from earlier, barked through his megaphone. "Failure to comply will result in the use of lethal force!"

His terrified eyes darted about looking for something, any sort of opening he could use to escape. But he found nothing aside from the enemies already surrounding him.

Nothing except a disguised Yzel hanging out in the back, staring back at him worriedly. Their gazes met, and after some pondering the young man looked at Salem again and discreetly held up his hand. He began to count down with his fingers. Five.. four.. three.. two.. one...

He ducked out of view before a lime green splat bomb sailed over the gathered troops and landed on the concrete floor. Quickly, the salmonling grabbed onto Salem's shoulder and prepared to pull him back.

"GET BA—!"

BOOM!

The resulting explosion splatted those closest to it while drenching several of the others in lime green ink and pushing them back. The salmonling managed to leap away with Salem in time, so the worst they got hit with were little more than stray droplets of ink.

Once Salem regained his bearings, he looked up to find Yzel firing wildly at the scrambled troops, hitting as many as he could even as he was pelted by blue ink in return. Salem raised his splattershot and took aim, then fired a couple ink pellets towards the horde of enemies. All it did was draw more attention toward him, along with more ink pellets. With an annoyed grunt, The salmonling grabbed him once more, hoisted him upon her back and began to sprint away. As he took another glance at the chaos before him, the inkling faltered.

Yzel had been pushed to the ground now, hands forcefully tied behind his back and with the dark-skinned inkling pressing a knee on his back.

A deep chill crept upon his body. It was hopeless; Grizzco would overwhelm and capture them all no matter what he tried. He'd be throwing away the opportunity Yzel's given him, and ensure tonight ended in certain defeat. There was only one thing to do for now: Flee.

He held onto the salmonling as she continued to run away from Evertide Mall's steps. Blue globs of ink whizzed past him, and he wildly fired pellets of his own in an attempt to slow down their pursuers. Their shots ceased after some time.

After dashing through streets and slipping from hiding spot to hiding spot, Salem suddenly jumped off the salmonling's back and took off running in another direction. He went on and on, away from everything and everyone. Even with the pain in his legs from so much moving, even with the startled cries of passerby he bumped into filling his ears, even as his own conscience screamed at him to turn back and help, Salem pressed on in his mad dash toward solitude.

At last he stopped at a vacant alley, away from any prying eyes. He had so little energy left he crumpled to the floor in an instant. So with nothing else left to do, the inkling youth lay there, gasping for air and contemplating how everything could go so wrong. His foolish plan failed and got his partner— his friend—captured, just to give him a chance to escape. This was all wrong...

So, so wrong…

He heard a thud nearby all of a sudden, and upon waking from a sleep he didn't even know he fell into, he was met with the cloaked mutant once more. Again those purple orbs looked over his body as if inspecting it, though her stance looked much more at ease this time. He tried to speak, tried to reach a hand toward her, but he could barely lift his arm for a few seconds before fatigue and gravity forced it down.

The salmonling knelt beside him, and after grasping his shoulders she dragged him over to the wall on his left and laid him there. Then, she turned around to walk away.

"Wait!" Salem called out, and the beast stopped in turn. "Why did you do all this?"

"The same reason you and your companion threw yourselves into danger. The burden she carries.. it troubles you, does it not?"

"What do you know of my friend?!"

She turned to face him once more, glaring right into his soul. "Enough to see that her plight is much like my own. If you truly wish to help her… Then allow her to overcome that which clouds her mind, not escape it."

And with her message laid bare, the salmonling spat a trail of ink on the other wall and swam up all the way to the roof, moving out of sight soon after.

Salem could only shake his head and sigh. It seemed like straight answers were not allowed anymore…

Oh well. Not like he had the energy to ponder all that now, anyways. He pulled out his phone and began dialing the phone number tied to his apartment. There was no one to answer the call, however.

"Weird… it's almost 10 pm, Constantine's usually there at this time."

He dialed Constantine's personal number this time, and was relieved to hear his roommate's voice on the other end once it picked up.

"What is it, Salem?" Constantine said, sounding rather annoyed.

"Hi 'tine, I just… wait, are you okay? Did—"

"I am fine."

"Well, I just wanted to say that—"

"You are headed to our apartment now, yes. I will join you shortly, there have been.. complications in my work as of late."

"Still haven't found anything for the cure, I'm guessing?"

"Yes. The cure… see you soon, Salem."

The call ended right after, and Salem felt nothing but confusion at the exchange he'd just been a part of. What's gotten Constantine so upset? And with how abruptly it ended, he must've been very impatient for something.

As Salem got up and began his trek back home, questions upon questions piled up in his mind over everything he's witnessed in the past several minutes. The enigma of this second salmonling, Constantine's strange attitude, Yzel's capture... it all left him with much to think about.

And once morning came, he'd waste no time trying to get answers to it all.